Wednesday, February 24, 2010

MxMo XLVI - Absinthe Abundance - Part II

Beforethe rest of the drink submissions (part I is here), I wanted to mention one comment we received from Myriam at the Detours blog. She is a writer living in Sydney, and just visited an absinthe salon in Sydney, and wrote about her absinthe explorations. No cocktails here, but some great photos, and a place to put on your must-visit list for Sydney.

Without further ado, the rest of the cocktails!

Easy Does ItMany people wrote about recipes calling for a barspoon or absinthe or less. This group has enough absinthe for it to be noticed in a meaningful way, but less than those drinks listed above.

Chris at Urbane, not Cosmopolitan uses his local absinthe in a reworking of the Foggy Day, resulting in his Foggy Day in Kingston Cocktail. Using gin, limoncello, and Jamaican bitters, it sounds delicious.

Last month's MxMo host, Frederic over at Cocktail Virgin Slut, introduces us to the Lusitania, which was printed before the ship became infamous. Primarily a vermouth-based cocktail, it sounds like a wonderful aperitif.

Paul & Steve from Cocktail Buzz write about the Old Mule, with dark rum, ginger beer, bitters and some absinthe. Sounds like a nice change of pace.

Hobson describes a cocktail created by Joaquin Simo at Death & Co. in NYC, the Latin Quarter over on Hobson's Choice. In this riff on the Sazerac, he uses aged rum rather than whiskey.

Rocky was put on the spot to name a new drink he was working on, so he dubbed it the Rye-se and Shine. Using his local absinthe, Rocky combines rye with cognac, sweet vermouth and bitters. Read about it over on NW Vivant.Kevin at Cocktail Enthusiast writes about the Chrysanthemum, a great classic. His version has different ingredient proportions than the other version posted - there seem to be several variations on this one. A lovely drink all around.

In another use of sloe gin, Filip at Adventures in Cocktails wanted to tone down the absinthe and used rye, sloe gin, lemon and simple along with his 1/2 barspoon of absinthe in the Sloe Envy. Sounds and looks great.On Liquidity Preference, Jacob admits he's not a big absinthe drinker, so he went searching. He found a good one - the Atty Cocktail, with gin, dry vermouth, and some creme de violette. Yum.

Over on Wordsmithing Pantagruel, our guide Pantagruel posted a very fun video with his balancier, and also introduces an original cocktail, the Elegance. He uses gin, sake, orange liqueur and bitters.

Maria, the Bubbly Girl, admits she only likes her absinthe in small quantities. She gives us Killing Me Softly, which incorporates elderflower liqueur, sugar and sparkling wine.

Bluewolf Pete, a member of the Wormwood Society, contributed the Garden Party, with gin, elderflower liqueur, bitters and a bit of absinthe.

From the folks in Toronto, we received these two with absinthe accents:

Nishan created the Snowbird, with ginger liqueur, Czech-style absinthe, lime and orgeat. Sounds like a tiki-style drink in the making, perhaps!

Scott used a spirit I've not yet seen or heard of - "Zoladkowa Gurzka bitter vodka" - along with blueberry jam and rosemary to create his The Purp. And it's topped with absinthe foam. Hmm. Wonder what that one tastes like? How bitter is that vodka?

Barkeep at Drink of the Week wrote about a well-known absinthe cocktail, the Monkey Gland. With it's use of gin, orange juice and grenadine, as well as it's history (that name!), it's certainly memorable. I also mentioned the similar Dixie Cocktail. It has more absinthe, and some dry vermouth, but a similar style. Both are fun drinks to share with people who don't know absinthe at all.

Over on eGullet, we got some great ideas that have absinthe as an accent:

Haresfur suggested the Martha, inspired by a cocktail he saw on cocktaildb - it features a float of absinthe. Martha is my mother's name, so I'm going to have make this one for her next time she's here. Unfortunately, since she's not much of a drinker, I'm going to have to drink it too, but that's OK.

Eric took inspiration from the Tuxedo Cocktail No. 2 in the Savoy, and created the Tailcoat, using genever, sweet vermouth, maraschino and bitters. Sounds delicious.

And a few folks who submitted more than one drink have some in this category as well:

The folks at 1022 South give us the HR 1022, where they pair bourbon, maraschino, dry vermouth, and interestingly, a lapsang souchong syrup. Hmmm... I think I have to try making that one.

Alan from Real Absinthe suggests the Green Devil, with a tequila-lemoncello-absinthe combination, and The Sun Also Rises, with rye, sloe gin, lemon and more. Both recipes were developed by his mixologist friends in Colorado.

In addition to the Green Fairy Sour, Marshall at Scofflaw's Den also mentions the Cocktail a la Louisiane, another great one.

Just a Rinse, PleaseFour folks wrote about rinsing their glass with absinthe.

Jessamyn over at Food on the Brain loves anise, pastis and absinthe. However, they've been playing with Cynar lately, and have given us the Gin & Sip, with gin, Cynar and absinthe. Sounds very interesting indeed.

Daniel at Gin not Vodka mentions a carbonated Corpse Reviver No. 2, which sounds darned interesting. He also discussed the Long Line, with a base of brandy, accented by sweet vermouth, absinthe and two types of bitters.

In his drink with tequila as the base, Anthony at Abelha Cachaca writes about the Tequila Sazerac, using agave nectar for the sweetener and a touch of lime rather than lemon.

And the most flamboyant rinse award goes to Gavin in Toronto, with his GF Twizzler. He use 30 ml of absinthe, and "brulees" the glass. This is our first instance of fire in this MxMo, used with a Czech-style absinthe. Has to be a heckuva show, but sounds dangerous!

(Edit) The award for most absinthe rinses in a month goes to Erik over at Underhill Lounge, who has been doing a complete set of Sazerac experiments this month using a variety of spirits and combinations. (Apologies to Erik for omitting this the first time I hit publish - I had meant to mention it.)

Only a Dash (or Two), No MoreThe last (but certainly not least) group used only one or two dashes of absinthe in their recipes. Nothing wrong at all with using absinthe in these quantities, but in these cases it is truly an accent in the drink, and nothing more. In this group, we have two great mixologists/bartenders from Chicago (welcome to MxMo, gentlemen!) -

Billy from the Whistler (a great cocktail & live music venue) gives us the Fleming, which includes Scotch, sloe gin, honey and absinthe (and he uses my favorite absinthe, too - I'm only slightly biased on that account).

Stevi over at Two at the Most is a woman after my own heart. Her blog name, her love for absinthe in the traditional drip, and the fact that she's always looks for new things. She found a new (to her) cocktail, the Atlantic. With gin, white rum, Cointreau and just a two dashes of absinthe, she found a new drink that demonstrates what a little absinthe can do.

James over at Alcoholiday gives us the only drink using Mezcal as the base, in the Smoking Saints Cocktail. Mezcal, St. Germain, lime, simple and absinthe - what's not to love?

And last on this list, but first in my book for starting this whole MxMo thing, is Paul Clarke over at The Cocktail Chronicles. Paul remembers that when MxMo started back in 2006, we couldn't have absinthe as our theme - look how far we've come. With the Modern Cocktail, Paul revisits a recipe from Hugo Ensslin using Scotch, lemon, and a bit of rum and bitters.

Cheers everyone, thanks for all the great posts and all the inspiration. I am going to incorporate more Scotch, Calvados, maraschino, and sloe gin into my absinthe drinks - those seemed to pop up in several entries. Now where's that mixing glass and bar spoon...

Hi Erik, no, I fully intended to mention your experiment, but have a few too many pieces of paper on my desk and managed to hit publish before describing it(which would've reminded me that someone had indeed written about Sazeracs! Many times!). I fixed it, sorry about that!

Thanks for hosting and for the feedback! As luck would have it, I'm just a bit to your north (about five counties up from Cook Co.) and I try to make it to Chicago periodically, as most of my friends are there. If you'd like, I can get a batch of Jamaican bitters going to bring down on my next jaunt to the Windy City. Just say the word!